Playthings: A War of Grand Necessity
by Rave The Rich
Summary: Dawn needs the right strategy in order to combat the addictive new game she bought for her girlfriend's birthday. GirlPowerShipping, meaning this is shoujo-ai. Please read and review.


Playthings: A War of Grand Necessity

Okay, folks. This is done for a couple of reasons. One is, of course, the pairing is very decent. GirlPowerShipping (Cynthia/Dawn) will get a thumbs up from me. Yes, it's shoujo-ai one shot, and no, while I like it, it's not an absolute, eternal favorite. It's just cool, and that's why I've done a cool, funny, light story for it. Along with all of that stuff, this is also a birthday gift for fellow author and friend **Newtype Omega**. Enjoy this and enjoy your day just as well!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon, a creation of one Satoshi Tajiri, and is produced domestically (in the United States) by Pokemon USA/TAJ/The Pokemon Company, and internationally by Shogakukan and OLM. I personally own nothing and make nothing by writing this. Please do not flame.

* * *

This has been going on for almost four hours. If there's one thing that could best describe what's happening here in their shared apartment at the moment, it's a form of neglect, though not to the point that she feels it necessary to yell and scream at the top of her lungs for her to get her attention, but the more than decade-younger Dawn does find having to go through this time and time again a real annoyance.

In her mind, it's as if she has to fight in a war every single afternoon in order for her to get what she needs in special time with her girlfriend, Cynthia. Her special times does not necessarily mean sexual relations, but something far more significant, like her time so that they may speak about the things that are on their minds, what worries them, what makes them laugh and think and, most importantly, grow.

But none of this can occur, none of it can even foster, without conversation and the lines of communication being completely open. That can't happen if Cynthia doesn't free herself from her addiction…to her Nintendo DS. She never imagined once agreeing to take part in this relationship that she would actually have to compete at one time or another with a video game, but it's been happening since about one o'clock this Saturday afternoon since Cynthia agreed to let Dawn watch the Pokémon Contest in Canalave City and study her competition during one of her scheduled weekends off.

Despite wanting to fully concentrate on seeing her friends and her rivals on the screen and not hear any criticisms or questions from the much older Pokémon Champion, the contest has long since gone and past. While Cynthia took up her time by playing with the handheld, she has still been at work with the device, more than two hours after the fact. Dawn feels that the time has come for her very famous girlfriend to get off of the game for a little bit and head over to their bed for some private time.

Walking from out of the hallway leading to the other rooms in their apartment, Dawn heads over to her girlfriend, who is knee deep in Mario land as her newest copy of the classic series is being put to the test by the elegant blonde. "Oh, Cynthia," she begins. Now sing-songy, she once again attempts to get the attention of this beauty by saying "Cy-thi-a," and stretching out her name, syllable by syllable.

Looking up, she sees her much younger love and pauses the game in progress, greeting her with a light kiss on the cheek and remembering that she had something that caught her attention earlier in a Sinnoh region contest. "So, did you enjoy the contest?"

"Yeah, it seems like I will have my work cut out for me, though. Drew has just been sending people to the locker rooms in shame and…when we meet in three weeks, I know that's gonna be the match that everyone will probably wanna see; the two of us facing one another in Eterna City for that contest."

"Good, and I suspect that you got some tips from watching him today that should help you whenever that time comes and you and him meet?"

"Yes, but I don't really wanna get into that now." Dawn has to pause herself given how that statement was construed, it could mean something different than what was meant, but also exactly what Dawn would like to do if ever given the opportunity by the first-class trainer. "You've been playing that thing for over four hours now."

"Oh, the game?" Cynthia interrupts. "Dawn, I tell you, this 'Super Mario: World Travelers' game is incredible. The graphics that they put in for all the different cities Mario goes to in order to get all of his friends back look great and the storyline is also the most exciting one I've seen since 'Galaxy'. I mean, you'd think that with this new chapter that Nintendo was answering everyone's prayers as far as things they want to see, because so far, I can't think of anything else to add to this equation."

'Well, I can,' Dawn counters in thought. 'I can add me, and subtract that devilish device and…some select clothing from both of us, but I'll start with you.' Opening her mouth to counter, Cynthia actually hears the words, "I'm very glad that you like your birthday gift from one week ago and I'm certainly happy that I made the right call there, but I'm sure that you can save games there, am I right?"

"Oh, yeah. You can save games that you've played, for sure."

"Well, good, because I was thinking that we could…"

"Just a moment, Dawn," Cynthia says before picking up the DS once more, restarting the game and getting back to her activity, leading the portly plumber from Brooklyn through his three-dimensional world. This time, he's making his rounds through the ruins of Ancient Rome while attempting to find his brother Luigi and ward off the attacks of Goombas and Koopa Troopas all in the name of searching for and defeating the infamous Bowser and eventually leading to an awaiting princess. "I'm close to finishing this level."

"Well, good! After that, I was wondering if you could call it a day for now and join me in our room for some 'us' time, you know? We haven't really had much of that kind of time lately."

"Okay," she tells Dawn while not looking up at her girlfriend face to face. Though the face of the Twinleaf Town native was about to light up faster than a Christmas tree, such thoughts were immediately snuffed out by the additional response of, "Give me five more minutes."

She could have been knocked over by a feather, but the teen keeps her composure, only gritting her teeth and clenching her right hand into a fist, all actions that Cynthia doesn't see because she's all wrapped up in game heaven. "Sounds…good to me, dear. I'll see you in…five minutes." At this moment, Dawn turns on a dime and makes a pathway to her room stomping with each step she makes as a means of hopefully, prayerfully getting inside the head of the addicted gamer, to no avail. Cynthia bats no eyes, presses no 'pause' button and continues on her level as if there were no other business to tend to in the world.

* * *

"Damn you, Nintendo!" Dawn exclaims after going inside her bedroom, which she shares with the enamored woman in the main room. While walking a few circles around the portion of the room not taken up by dresser drawers, screens or mirrors, she speaks of her further disdain of such an activity as twiddling about with thumbs while taking an active-passive role in a contained, colorful and digital environment like an LCD screen. "Damn you and your penchant for making things designed to keep me away from what's most important in my life! First, it was the HD-compatible Wii and now this next-generation DS! I swear to whatever is holy; if we ever decide on having kids, I won't be buying anything like that for our child. Hell, ice cream would be a better addiction than this!"

Hanging her head low, the young lady accepts one simple fact, "Oh, God. I'm at war with toys! Of all things to be at war with, I've become the worst enemy of playthings! I've stood directly in the face of Hunter J, led her to surrendering to authorities and had no reservations doing it, but I can't even wean my girlfriend off of her handheld for longer than thirty seconds so that we can have time between ourselves. What kind of bull is that?"

Her situation sure is a unique one. Certainly not one of imminent danger, though. If that were the case, she'd likely have to call in select relatives of hers and her girlfriend and form an intervention to convince her to stop. Her situation has not become that dire, but at the same time she has needs that are not being fulfilled since she got the game for her partner. Needs of a time in which their love had more of a spontaneous feel. One of them would surprise the other through different means, like the time when Cynthia came home to find Dawn preparing dinner while wearing only her skimpiest string thong bikini. Dawn thinks that the only other time her girlfriend ran that quickly from one end of their apartment to another is during a building fire drill.

That moment, especially all that took place afterwards, brings a smile to the face of the young one as she finds their shared closet in front of her face. At the moment, it is closed. A bit of irony for these two, for sure, but while it does not escape the mind of the vexed youth, it's not her primary motive or aim given that it's a Saturday and she has nowhere else to go for the rest of the night. Dinner will most likely be either leftovers or takeout and neither ladies were expecting any weekend company, so Dawn decided that if she could not use her words to sway Cynthia's opinion on games, then she'd make another attempt by firing a new weapon in this grand warfare by opening up her treasure chest of wondrous belongings. "Worry not, Dawn! Soon, she'll be putty in your hands."

"All right, Mario. You haven't led me wrong throughout this game," Cynthia declares as she finds herself deep within the levels of South America that are destined to eventually lead to what she read about on forums as being the South Pole levels where the plumber has to fend of excruciating cold in the name of finding the fairer sex and bringing her to eventual safety. Once more, a back story enters this particular equation as the question of how Bowser is able to survive in sub-zero temperatures as a reptile comes into play and becomes an important key in how to defeat the final boss.

Having read about the levels before, she had an idea of what she was to expect. Enemies were bound to attack her from every angle imaginable. She was ready for it, though, as the game was designed for the purist who grew up on side-scrolling, mushrooms and fire flowers as much as those who crave multilateral game play, different arenas, various objectives to make it to the finish, and with a world that looks like an actual world. Yes, she could honestly say that these parts of the game were ones that she had her mind set on experiencing.

"Oh, Cynthia," a voice calls out once more to the surprise of tall, blonde and beautiful. Much like the Trojan Horse provided the right deception in order to turn the tide in the Trojan War, it could not have been suspected. There she went again, running through her brain and providing her eyes with the most sugary sweet form of a diversion from the game than she could have bargained for. Dawn was at it again, not backing down like California Proposition 8 protesters. She got right in between her opposition and once that's done, all hope goes the way of the Wooly mammoth. Because of all of this, Cynthia, who had racked up lives by the bucketful, lost one of them…and decided that her pre-planned five minutes had ran their course.

Again, she could care less if she lost that one and ten more to boot. She had plenty stored up through numerous tricks of the trade, but right now, the third side of this equation is no longer playing fair. How can Cynthia compete with her blue-haired beauty standing before her with an outfit that has more transparency than a glass house? She had no clue where the bra and panties ended and her de facto property began. All that was standing in her way of actually seeing the other girl nude in the places that mattered was her ice-blue robe. Otherwise, Dawn was doing nothing more than giving the arguably obsessed lady in black a free show, but she knew better than to just act desperate by bringing out the heavy artillery.

As Cynthia slowly gets up from her seat, something puts her back in her place just as quickly. Dawn knew that she'd attempt to take liberties with what was before her, but first and foremost, ground rules had to be set and followed. "Now," she begins, "just until we get things squared away here, there are some things I need to know. Number one, I won't have to hear anymore talk about Mario, Luigi and Peach, right?"

"I—I—I don't—I don't—who be they? What-what are you talking about?" she asks in a mesmerized state. It would appear that Dawn has all but accomplished what she set out to do when the afternoon turned to the evening. "No way! None of that will happen. Let's do this!"

"Sit your gaming tail down! I'm not finished." Dawn is in control and the sun rises and sets with her in this household. "Now that we've got that squared away, I want you to tell me what you're gonna do for the next seven days, and please be specific with your answer."

Dawn does enjoy using enhanced forms of interrogation as a tactic of war. From her perspective, it seems to work and is making Cynthia squirm in her seat as she will have to admit that one whole week of fun and games with Dawn beats any video game, however awesome and exciting. Shaking before admitting, "You. I wanna do you, Dawn…so badly," Cynthia sheds one single tear as pride prevented her from going this route sooner, but keeping Dawn at a distance was another tactic of hers that served to delay the inevitable and make it an experience that she'd look forward to and not a daily occurrence that she'd likely tire of in due time. Even she will admit to missing the fun and the childlike feelings that the two share, as their curiosity with one another remains as strong as when they came together.

She remains under the age of eighteen and not as experienced in the many nuances of sexuality as her girlfriend, but Cynthia doesn't mind teaching if Dawn doesn't mind the games, not all of them being video. If Dawn gets the hint about slowing things down when it comes to the game and using strategy instead of going for the kill upon every amorous moment, she'll have won the war for sure. No other description can fit this puzzle quite like that.

Since she got the right answer, Dawn caresses the soft chin of her lover and lets her know that her trial by fire has ended and that she could be an ally to her for the next seven nights on her terms. Through this, both sides have signed their unwritten treaty declaring a ceasefire and no further prodding, pleading or teasing in order to turn on the light bulb in the other's head will be necessary. Intentions being what they are, it's no surprise that someone will get hurt in the name of love. It's no shock that someone may get shook in the conquest of war, but given the price that had to be paid, the path now treaded towards the bedroom with a trail of each one's clothing forming a link back to the cold, dark reality of war will serve either one well.

That's in the event that playthings, or any other things, for that matter, seem to get in the way. Should that ever happen, Dawn and Cynthia aren't above clearing the battlefield. They won't think twice about readying themselves for combat in the name of extra special contact.

Hey, should the need (or the mood) ever arise…

* * *

A/N: Man, how much fun was this to write, honestly? It took me two long nights, but it was well worth it. Newtype might get to this before anyone else, so that's cool. Again, happy B-day to him and I hope he likes it, along with all of you!

Until then, It's Rave!


End file.
